Video: Re-creating the hairstyle of the ancient Roman Vestal Virgins

Hair dresser and amateur archeologist Janet Stephens spent seven years researching the hairstyle of the Roman Vestal Virgins, to learn how to re-create it.

Janet Stephens is a Baltimore hairdresser and amateur archaeologist, who calls herself a hair-dressing archaeologist. At a poster session in early January 2013 at the annual meeting of the Archeological Institute of American, Stephens showed how she recreated the hairstyle of the Roman Vestal Virgins on a modern head. She said she was inspired by an ancient portrait bust at a local museum and afterwards tried to recreate the hairstyle at home, but failed “miserably.”

She spent the next seven years conducting research in an effort to properly reconstruct the lost technique. And now, the results of her work have been published in the journal Roman Archaeology. The video below shows how she did it.

The hairstyle is called seni crines. It consists of six braids. Archeologist Elizabeth Barton has said that, in ancient Rome, hair was an expression of personal identity. A number of factors determined which hairstyle a person would wear, including gender, age, social status, wealth and profession. If you were an ancient Roman, your hairstyle told who you were and what your role in society was.

Hair was also used symbolically to mark rites of passage; for instance, loosened hair was common at a funeral. In much this same way, the seni crines hairstyle was worn by brides, in which case it was parted with a spear, Barton has said.

Vestal Virgins’ hairstyle photo courtesy Janet Stephens

Photo courtesy Janet Stephens.

Bottom line: Hair dresser and amateur archeologist Janet Stephens spent seven years researching the hairstyle of the ancient Roman Vestal Virgins, to learn how to re-create it. The video in this post shows how it’s done.

Deborah Byrd created EarthSky as a radio series in 1991 and founded this website in 1994. Today, Byrd still blogs at EarthSky.org, helps write its popular daily Tonight series and serves as overall editor-in-chief. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and as a vital tool for the 21st century. Astrophysics, the night sky and imagining space travel remain among her most enduring lifelong passions.